Jerusalem - at 108.9 NIS/day, and above the daily average for Palestine in general at 94.7 NIS/day,268 this difference does little to compensate for the costs of living and is likely a result of the upturns in the tourism market. At the same time, Bethlehem has the highest rate of underemployment in Palestine (6.6 percent), and the highest rate of unemployment in the West Bank (23 percent).269 As a result, it is unsurprising that poverty is rampant throughout the governorate. In 2019, 22 percent of families in Bethlehem were living below the poverty line, surviving on less than two dollars a day,270 and in 2018, Bethlehem had the fourth highest number of households in receipt of government assistance (12.5 percent),271 and the highest percentage of households in “great need” of assistance (18.5 percent).272 Meanwhile, a small minority are growing wealthier, based on a shifting class structure, due to neoliberal policies, implemented mainly by the PA, along with Israel’s control of the economy.273 Israel’s policies of fragmentation and isolation have spawned an unequal economy in which a select few businesses, largely in tourism and the stone and marble industry, are able to benefit from their concessions and favoritism. Consequently, Bethlehem also suffers from the greatest level of income inequality in Palestine: with the second highest number of “rich” people in Palestine (12.4 percent), and the highest percentage of “poor” people in the West Bank (16.5 percent).274 3.1.3. Depoliticization This increasing isolation, poverty and economic inequality concurrently induce a phenomenon of depoliticization. On the one hand, this is due to the need to retain certain employment and economic opportunities, in order to afford basic necessities and to not default on debts (24.7 percent of households in Bethlehem have debts, the fourth highest governorate in the 268 PCBS, “Statistics Table 47: Average Daily Wage in NIS for Wage Employees Aged 15 Years and Above in Palestine by Region and Governorate, 2000-2018,” in supra 246, 112. 269 PCBS, supra 155. 270 Hazboun, supra 174. 271 PCBS, “Statistics Table 1: Percentage of Households in Palestine that Received Assistance by Region and Governorate,” in supra 245, 49. 272 PCBS, “Statistics Table 16: Percentage of Households in Palestine that Received Assistance by Region and Governorate,” in Id., 64. 273 Clarno, supra 5, 96-97. 274 PCBS, “Statistics Table 19: Percentage of Households in Palestine that Received Assistance by Region and Governorate,” in supra 245, 67. 72